Wiper blade fastener



March 9, 1937. KEMPEL 2,073,157

WIPER BLADE FASTENER Filed April 20, 1936 Patented Mar. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WIPER BLADE FASTENER Application April 20, 1936, Serial No. 75,287

4 Claims.

This invention relates to windshield wiper blade mountings, and it has for its object to provide improved means for detachably connecting the blade with a motor arm, including one which may have been intended for a blade of a different type. This permits the car owner, when a blade has deteriorated from use, to replace it with a preferred one equipped with the present invention, Without installing a new motor or arm.

10 Of the accompanying drawing, Fig. l is a side elevation, showing a wiper blade and motor arm assembly including in the blade mounting a preferred form of my improved fastener.

Fig. 2 is a partial rear edge view.

15 Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the improved wire fastener.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the motor arm swung forward and a blade in process of being attached thereto.

20 Fig. 5 is a fragmental side view showing the blade and parts of the mounting in a slightly different relation than in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a section and partial end elevation on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

5 Referring to the drawing, iil is a wiper blade including a suitable rubber wiping element H, such as one of externally ribbed tubular form, mounted in a metal back frame or channel l2. Upon said metal back is mounted a clip or bracket 30 l3 which may be longitudinally slidable on the blade to adjust the latter to a higher or a lower position. Said clip may be of any suitable construction, such as that described in my concurrently filed application Serial No. 75,288, which 35 includes a pair of side plates l4 connected by a rivet l5 (Fig. 4) and having inner jaw portions l6 gripping the sides of the blade back l2, and outer portions perforated with at least one hole or pair of transverse holes ll. These holes may receive 40 the wire fastener of the present invention or an attaching screw or pin of one type of motor arm, and if the holes are in pairs placed symmetrically with relation to the rivet l5, the plates can be duplicates to facilitate assembly as described in 45 my said concurrently filed application.

I8 is a fastener member made of stout spring steel wire and including a pair of side bars IS, a U-shaped pivoting portion 20 at right angles thereto at one end, and at the opposite end a pair of retroverted jaw portions 2| bent toward each other to meet under lateral tension at their extremities. By separating these jaws, the fastener l8 can be threaded through the holes I! to 55 bring its U-shaped portion 20 into said holes, or

by a reversal of said action, the fastener can be removed when it is not required for use with the illustrated type of arm.

22 is a portion of the motor arm having a sheetmetal, blade-engaging end portion 23 bent to a U shape with side portions or ears 24 receiving the back portion of the clip l3 between them, and a connecting seat formed with a slot 25 (Fig. 2) intended for receiving a hook-shaped back fin found on certain types of blades but not used with my improved fastener.

The forward edges of the ears 24 rest behind the pivoting portion 20 of the fastener when the blade and arm are operatively associated as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, and the slanting fastener jaws 2| normally abut against the slanting rear edges of said ears as shown in Fig. l, to retain the wiper blade and fastener and motor arm in assembled relation. The arm 22 in Fig. 1 stands at a substantial angle to the back of the blade I0, as for a long-shafted motor used with a swinging windshield, or a motor projecting a considerable distance forward of the windshield. The ends of the jaws 2| then rest against the rounded upper corners of the bracket plates I4, and they cannot be forced beyond this position without springing the fastener. But when the motor arm and blade are placed in a more parallel relation, the ends of jaws 2| are forced further inward on the upper edges of the bracket plates as shown in Fig. 5, thereby slightly springing the fastener. The motor arm is then more nearly parallel with the windshield, as with some installations including those with the motor mounted at the bottom of the windshield.

A wiper blade provided with this improved fastener is connected with a motor arm 22 in the manner represented in Fig. i, by swinging said arm out from the windshield, turning the blade bottom-end up with its back facing that of the arm seat 23, the stem or rod portion of the motor arm is forced between the jaws 2| of the fastener [8 by a relative movement of the latter inthe direction of the arrow A, and the blade is then swung in the direction of the arrow B to bring the projecting margins of the clip |3 between the side walls 24 of the arm seat 23 into the assembled relation represented in Fig. l or that shown in Fig. 5. In this assembled relation, the jaws 2| come together under tension in back of 50 the slanting rear edges of the seat walls 24, and consequently the fastener cannot escape from the arm 22 without the exertion of considerable strength in opening said fastener. A fastener of this construction will accommodate itself to any 55 width of motor arm, whether of the round or wire stem type here illustrated or other shape such as flat, and it has the advantage of permitting ample hinging action between the arm and the blade, in the plane of the blade. This fastener may be easily detached from the clip l3 when the blade is to be used with a different type of motor arm The described shape of fastener may be more or less varied and other modifications efiected without departing from my invention as defined 2. A structure as defined in claim 1 wherein the clip has a pair of end edges and adjacent corner edges, the fastener jaws normally rest against said corner edges when the arm is at a considerable angle to the blade, and are adapted to be sprung to engage said end edges when the arm is more parallel with the blade.

3. The combination of a windshield Wiper blade having a transversely-apertured back clip, and a wire fastener member having at one end a pivoting portion detachably and loosely mounted in the aperture and at the opposite end a pair of jaws for engaging the head of a motor arm and brought together under tension to retain the member on said head.

4. A fastener member for connecting a windshield wiper blade with a motor arm, said member being made of spring wire and formed as a pair of side bars connected at one end by a U- shaped portion projecting laterally from said bars and having at the other end a retroverted pair of jaws substantially meeting at their free ends and formed as direct continuations of the side bars.

ARTHUR B. KEMPEL. 

